Model train rail cleaning system

ABSTRACT

A model train rail cleaning system and apparatus comprising four bores disposed in a center portion; a cleaning member disposed within each of said bore, said cleaning member having a shaft, an upper head disposed upwardly of said shaft; a footing secured to said shaft downwardly from said upper head; and a biasing member to bias said footing downwardly so that said footing is capable of contacting a rail whereby a first footing is capable of contacting a first rail, a second footing is capable contacting a second rail, a third footing is capable of contacting the first rail downstream of said first footing, and a fourth footing is capable of contacting the second rail downstream of said second footing.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application hereby claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to a Provisional Patent Application entitled, “MODEL TRAIN RAIL CLEANING SYSTEM,” filed 1 Mar. 2005 by inventor James Anthony Mull (application No. 60/657,666).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Model train sets conduct electricity and carry digital data and electricity through the rails of the train track. Therefore clean rails are important to the operation of model trains.

The prior art contains a cleaner whereby a cylindrical shaped roller is rotatably secured to a model train car, also known as the cleaning car. The car is used by placing it behind the engine, which pulls the cleaning car along the track.

A need exists to have a cleaning system in front of the engine. Therefore the engine, which usually acts as a transceiver of electricity or digital data, is not provided the benefits of the track cleaner in front of the engine.

A need also exists to have an abrasive material traverse the rail, and a felt, or felt-like material to follow the abrasive to clean or wipe the track.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the present invention is a train rail cleaning system for a train engine or car, comprising: a cleaning member capable of being substantially vertically biasly oriented within a central portion of the train engine or car; a footing disposed downwardly of said cleaning member, said footing capable of contacting a rail when the train engine or car is on the rail.

Another aspect of the present invention is a model train rail cleaning apparatus, comprising: a bore disposed in a center portion; a cleaning member disposed within said bore, said cleaning member having a shaft, an upper head disposed upwardly of said shaft; a footing secured to said shaft downwardly from said upper head; and a biasing member to bias said footing downwardly so that said footing is capable of contacting a rail.

A third aspect of the present invention is a model train rail cleaning apparatus, comprising: four bores disposed in a center portion; a cleaning member disposed within each of said bore, said cleaning member having a shaft, an upper head disposed upwardly of said shaft; a footing secured to said shaft downwardly from said upper head; and a biasing member to bias said footing downwardly so that said footing is capable of contacting a rail whereby a first footing is capable of contacting a first rail, a second footing is capable contacting a second rail, a third footing is capable of contacting the first rail downstream of said first footing, and a fourth footing is capable of contacting the second rail downstream of said second footing.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional side sectional pictorial view of the present invention showing the cassis; and

FIG. 2 is a side view of the present invention with the engine housing or cover.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only, and will not be limiting. For example, the words “upwardly,” “downwardly,” “rightwardly,” and “leftwardly” will refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “inwardly” and “outwardly” will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the system and designated parts thereof. Said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the invention of the cleaning system 1. A model train chassis 10 having a center portion 20. The center portion 20 has a bottom side 70, and a top side 80. The center portion 20 having a first bore 30 extending therethrough. A cleaning member 40 may be biasly disposed through said first bore 30. The cleaning member 40 has a shank 90 that has a diameter that can be smaller than the diameter of the first bore 30.

The cleaning member 40 has a lower portion that terminates to a footing 50. In one embodiment the footing 50 may be disk-shaped. In one embodiment the footing 50 can be made of Celcon®. In one embodiment the footing may be made of urethane. This application teaches and suggests that the footing 50 can also be made of other materials that will work as described herein. The footing 50 can be convex and generated about a 2 inch radius having a centerpoint upwardly from the footing, as illustrated in FIG. 1, or it can have other configurations, such as flat. It can be of other shapes also, such as triangular, square, or rectangular.

The center portion 20 has a third bore 150, and a second bore 60 extending upwardly from said bottom side 70 disposed concentric with respect to said first bore 30. The third bore 150 may have a diameter or distance (in the case of a non-circular third bore) that may be greater than the second bore 60. The second bore 60 has a diameter or distance that can be larger than the diameter of the first bore 30. The second bore 60 concentric being with the first bore 30 forms a shoulder 100. The third bore 150 may be concentric with either the first bore 30 or second bore 60. An interface of the third bore 150 with the second bore 60 may form a surface 160.

The distance from the shoulder 100 to the bottom side 70 can be 0.250 inch, which also represents the depth of the second bore 60.

A spring 110 may surround the shank 90, or in one exemplary embodiment, a lower head 120′. In operation, the spring 110 at one end biases against the footing 50, and at the other end biases against the shoulder 100, which biases the footing 50 away from the center portion 20.

In the above described exemplar of the cleaning system 1, the spring 110 may be made of 0.10 inch wire, has a 0.250 inch diameter, and a length from top to bottom, while coiled, of 0.750 inch. Further, the spring has 8 active coils, and 10 coils total.

The footing 50 can be fixedly secured to a threaded portion 55, which may be threadably secured to the shank 90, downwardly thereof, via a male-female threading relationship.

In the above described exemplar of the cleaning system 1, the footing 50 has a diameter of ½ inch. The threaded portion 55 has a length extending upwardly from the footing of 0.30 inch, and has a diameter of 3/16 inch.

In an exemplar having four footings 50, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the length (l) between the center lines of the footings 50 may be 1.20 inches, and the diameter (d) can be 0.56 inches. The front footings 50 are in front of the rear footings 50, in relation to the primary direction of travel. Thus the center points of the footings 50 are not aligned with the centerlines of the rail upon which the train rides. This is capable of allowing the footings 50 to rotate while traversing the rail. Then shank 90 may have a body diameter of ⅛ inch.

An upper head 120 may be disposed upwardly from said shank 90. The upper head may have a diameter larger than that of the shank 90. In one exemplar, the upper head 120 has a diameter of 0.145 inches. In another exemplar, the upper head 120 has a diameter of 0.15625 inches. In a third exemplar, the upper head 120 has a diameter of 0.250 inches.

In one exemplar the, the front footings 50 have an abrasive 160 fixedly disposed on the bottom, whereby the abrasive 160 may contact with the rails 200 to clean the rails 200. This exemplar also has felt 160 disposed on both of the rear footings 50. The felt 160 can also in contact with the rail 200.

The spring 110 biases the footings 50 against the rail. This way the footings 50, or the abrasive 160, or felt 160 are capable of being constantly in contact with the rail, despite any differential in rail bumps or height.

The head 120 keeps the cleaning member 40 from falling downwardly through the first bore 30.

The cleaning system 1 can be configured whereby the cleaning system 1 can be pushed along the rail, with the operative engine and other train cars behind the cleaning system 1.

In another exemplar, the cleaning system 1 can be utilized on a powered engine. This enables the cleaning system 1 to be used without the need of any other engines or cars.

In a third exemplar, the cleaning system 1 can by pulled by an engine. 

1. A train rail cleaning system for a train engine or car, comprising: a cleaning member capable of being substantially vertically biasly oriented within a central portion of the train engine or car; a footing disposed downwardly of said cleaning member, said footing capable of contacting a rail when the train engine or car is on the rail.
 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a first bore, and a second bore disposed in a center portion, said first bore and said second bore sharing substantially the same center line.
 3. The system of claim 3, further comprising a third bore, said third bore sharing substantially the same center line as that of at least one of said first bore or said second bore.
 4. The system of claim 1, further comprising an abrasive disposed on said footing and said abrasive capable of contacting the rail.
 5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a soft material disposed on said footing and said soft material capable of contacting the rail.
 6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a spring surrounding at least one of either a head or a shaft, said spring capable of biasing said footing downwardly.
 7. The system of claim 3, wherein said third bore is capable of receiving said footing when said footing.
 8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a head fixedly disposed upwardly of said cleaning member, said head having a diameter larger than a diameter of a first bore.
 9. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least two cleaning members.
 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising four cleaning members.
 11. A model train rail cleaning apparatus, comprising: a bore disposed in a center portion; a cleaning member disposed within said bore, said cleaning member having a shaft, an upper head disposed upwardly of said shaft; a footing secured to said shaft downwardly from said upper head; and a biasing member to bias said footing downwardly so that said footing is capable of contacting a rail.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a second bore, a shoulder defined by said bore and said second bore.
 13. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a third bore.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said biasing member biases against both said shoulder and said footing.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a distance from said shoulder to a bottom side is about 0.250 inches; said biasing member is a spring made of about 0.10 inch wire and said spring having a diameter of about 0.250 inches, and a length while coiled and not compressed of about 0.750 inches, and said spring has about 8 active coils and about 10 total coils; said footing is threadably secured to said shank, said footing having a diameter of about 0.50 inches; and said shaft has a body diameter of about ⅛ of an inch.
 16. A model train rail cleaning apparatus, comprising: four bores disposed in a center portion; a cleaning member disposed within each of said bore, said cleaning member having a shaft, an upper head disposed upwardly of said shaft; a footing secured to said shaft downwardly from said upper head; and a biasing member to bias said footing downwardly so that said footing is capable of contacting a rail whereby a first footing is capable of contacting a first rail, a second footing is capable contacting a second rail, a third footing is capable of contacting the first rail downstream of said first footing, and a fourth footing is capable of contacting the second rail downstream of said second footing.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said first footing, said second footing, said third footing, and said fourth footing has a substantially vertically oriented center line of rotation so that at least one of said footings are not aligned with the center of the respective rail, whereby said footing is capable of rotating while the apparatus is displaced on the rail.
 18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said apparatus is capable of cleaning an HO scale model train track.
 19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said apparatus is capable of cleaning an N scale model train track.
 20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said apparatus is capable of cleaning an O scale track. 